


With or Without You

by Ravenclaw_333



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: An Intruder, Angst with a Happy Ending, Attempted Murder, Blood and Injury, Blood and Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gun Violence, House break in, M/M, Major Character Injury, Sad with a Happy Ending, knife
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-08-22 14:12:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16599422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ravenclaw_333/pseuds/Ravenclaw_333
Summary: Lance moves his body completely over Keith and wraps his arm tighter around Keith’s body, holding on to the gun in his other hand, just as he feels the knife go through his shoulder and down an inch or two before being pulled out the next second.





	With or Without You

The time was nearing two in the morning, when Lance was woken up by the sound of their backdoor opening with a faint creak from the hinges. He knew that sound anywhere since Keith had told him just a few days ago that they needed to fix the door, but he’s glad that they didn’t do anything about it. 

Lance knew that they didn’t have time to get out of bed and hide somewhere, and he also didn’t know if the intruder had a weapon with them. All he knew what that he needed to keep Keith alive and somehow take down the intruder from inflicting damage. So, Lance moves his body, as quietly as he can, to face Keith and wrap an arm around his waist to protect his body.

With the comforting feeling of Lance’s warm body behind and around him, Keith wakes up quietly to look at Lance with a tired smile. But when he sees the horrified look on Lance’s face, Keith tries to move but stops himself when he feels Lance tighten his arm around his waist. 

“Someone’s in the house. Don’t move. I’m about to grab gun. Stay silent and pretend to be asleep.” Lance whispers in Keith’s ear before he could say anything that would alert the intruder, “I love you, Keith.” Lance brings his lips to the back of Keith’s neck and places his forehead in his hair to where he could still see. He then grabs his gun that he has secured between the wall and bed before leaving his arm there, after making sure that it’s hidden by a pillow. 

Keith doesn’t know what to do to comfort Lance, since he can’t talk or move to wrap his arms around him, so all he does is place his own arm around the secure one on his waist and squeeze gently.

As Lance shifts Keith down a little to face the mattress, to better protect him, they hear something outside their door and immediately pretend to be asleep. The second they hear the door open and the soft footsteps of the intruder enter the room, they try to remain calm and try to stop the hammering of their hearts from beating too loudly in their chests. Keith could feel Lance’s heart on his back and wants to turn around and comfort him, but he can’t because that would put them in danger. 

They both feel the presence of the intruder on Keith’s side of the bed and Keith immediately goes still for a moment, forgetting how to breath, but Lance’s arm around Keith’s waist tightens a little and pushes him to face the mattress a little more. 

Lance has one of his eyes open against Keith’s head and is watching everything that the intruder is doing. As he watches, the intruder goes to Keith’s phone on the nightstand and clicks on the home button, which shows a picture from their wedding where they are facing each other with their foreheads together as the sun sets behind them. For just a moment, Lance lets his guard down as he remembers that day, but it’s all it takes for him to regret it. 

Lance didn’t even process the hand go over Keith’s mouth or for a knife to quickly make its way over Keith’s cheekbone to jaw the second the hand was removed. The intruder knew that had to be awake or at least knew Lance was awake, but Lance didn’t care now because Keith’s screaming in pain and most likely covered in blood. 

Lance moves his head to see Keith crying from the pain with his hands and neck covered in his blood. Neither of them is quick enough to move anything except their heads before they look over and see the intruder raise the knife in the air to strike again, Keith looks back at Lance and shakes his head no because he knows what Lance is about to do. 

Lance moves his body completely over Keith and wraps his arm tighter around Keith’s body, holding on to the gun in his other hand, just as he feels the knife go through his shoulder and down an inch or two before being pulled out the next second. 

The pain from the knife was unlike anything Lance has ever experienced before and he thought that his arm was cut off for a split second before it twitched from the pain and from feeling the blood pour onto his arm and side. He knew Keith was safe when he didn’t scream out in pain, but he didn’t want to risk moving anyway.

Forgetting the pain in his cheek didn’t matter the second Lance decided to fling his body over his and he wanted to push him off, so he could be the one that gets the hit, but Lance’s hold on his waist was stronger than he thought. He wanted to yell at him and tell that he’s an idiot for putting himself in danger, but there was no time because he stopped breathing the second the sound of the knife went through Lance. 

All Keith saw was the look of pain in Lance’s face as the knife went through his body. All he felt was Lance’s blood covering the sheets and part of their bodies, and Lance’s body go completely limp above him for a split second, before the intruder stabbed Lance again. 

The feeling of the knife going though Lance’s body a second time was different this time because the intruder left it in longer to enjoy Lance’s screams of pain and Keith’s screams of distress. Lance almost dropped the gun down between the bed from the pain but managed to hold on to it. As the knife went down an inch or two, like the first on did, it went down slower, before the intruder brought it out again. 

When Lance felt the knife leave his body, he tightened his hold on his gun and took it out of its hiding place, before the knife could go thought him again. He makes eye contact with Keith for just a moment before risking everything to take his shot. 

In one swift motion, while ignoring the pain, Lance takes in a deep breath and aims his gun at the intruder before shooting him. The intruder screams out in pain and tries to strike Lance again, but fails when Lance shot him again, which takes down the intruder. 

It was all over, for only a split second, before the world came crashing down and the sound of the gun falling to the floor took both out of their daze. Keith’s world seemed to go in slow motion, as he saw Lance move from on top of him and collapse next to him on the bed looking up at Keith with wide eyes.

Keith just looked at Lance with a pale face, that made Lance think he was injured as well, but noticed that it was just because of the shock from seeing Lance take down the intruder and from Lance’s body covered in blood. 

Lance grabbed Keith’s face with his uninjured side and begins to calm him down.

“It’s okay… Breathe, baby… breathe.” Lance’s words came out slow and out of breath, causing Keith to panic. “Call… 911.” Keith didn’t want to move away from Lance, because he thought that he would be gone when he return from the phone just inches away, but he knew that he would regret not calling and quickly grabbed the phone and called the police in a panicked voice.

When the authorities tell Keith that they’re on there way, Lance suddenly yells from pain from his stab wounds. Keith quickly places Lance on his back, so he can start putting pressure on his wounds with there already bloody sheets. Keith knows that the cut on his face is probably dried by now, so he doesn’t care about himself bleeding out. All he cares about is making sure Lance stays alive. 

Keith is crying, and his ears are slightly ringing from the gun, but all his attention is on Lance and only Lance till he is patched up and more alive then he is right now.

“Lance you better not die on me or I swear I’ll… I’ll…” Keith can’t even talk because his thoughts are coming a million miles a second and he can’t think straight. There are tears coming down his face and Lance’s groans of pain are not helping Keith calm down. “Come on, Lance. Stay with me! Please, I need you… please… please.” Keith moved Lance on his stomach and began to press into the wounds, which caused Lance to groan out in pain. 

There is blood all over both of their shirts and pants, and Keith’s arms look like they were put in a can of red paint from how much blood he’s covered in. Lance has blood on his face and in his hair from when he fell back into the sheets, and from Keith shaking his head to make sure he doesn’t fall asleep. 

“Keith I’m… Keith, shh. I love… love… you.” Lance’s breathing begins to slow down even more and his words to Keith begin to slur as blood starts to drip from his mouth. Lance tries to bring a hand to touch Keith’s face, but it falls the instant he lifts it, but Keith noticed it in the corner of his eye and bring it up to cup his face. “Keith look… please. My eyes… look…”

For the first time since Lance fell off him, Keith looks into Lance’s blue eyes. He was afraid that he wouldn’t see anything in them when he looked, but he still saw the love and color that he knew was in there. Keith couldn’t look away, he was afraid that if he did, he wouldn’t see anything in them. 

The sound of the ambulance is faint in the distance, but they know it’s coming, and they feel like everything is going to be fine. Until Lance’s eyes roll in the back of his head and his body goings still under him. 

“LANCE!” Keith can’t move him, can’t touch him without having more blood come out of his wounds, so he just presses down with everything he has and watches and feels Lance slowly die under him. All Keith can do is scream out for help and hope that that ambulance arrives in the next few seconds. 

Keith is focused so hard on keeping Lance alive that he didn’t even register the paramedics and police officers get through the door, till one of the officers push him off Lance and out the door. For a second, Keith thought that it was another intruder coming to finish them off, but when he sees that it’s a police officer, he calms down and lets them take him out of the house. Keith begins to yell at them to not let Lance die, as the police officers bring him out the door and to an ambulance. 

When Keith is brought to an ambulance, his eyes never leave the front door, but a paramedic tries to talk to him and ask him about the cut on his face, that he completely forgot about. He doesn’t say anything, his voice is too sore from screaming for help, so Keith just motions to his cheek and hopes they understand what he means. 

As the paramedic is tending to his cut, a police officer comes over with a blanket and begins to ask him some questions about the incident. Keith just looks at the police officer with a blank stare, before looking back at the front door. Keith is so focused on the door that he doesn’t even notice the paramedic leave.

The next time Keith sees Lance, he’s attached to IV’s and strapped in a stretcher with an oxygen mask over his face. Some parts of Lance’s blanket are stained with red, but it’s not as much as what’s on Keith or on Lance. And all Keith knew in that moment was that Lance is alive, for now. Keith runs to the ambulance to get inside with Lance and immediately goes to touch his leg under the blanket, slightly afraid to touch anything that he knew is covered in blood under the blanket. 

All throughout the drive to the hospital, Lance’s heart goes crazy on the monitor and the medics shout foreign words back and forth to each other to keep him alive. All Keith wants to see are Lance’s blue eyes and Lance’s bright and white smile, not remembering his eyes go in the back of his or seeing his blood-stained teeth. 

When they make it to the hospital, Keith is stopped right away by a nurse at the doorway, who gives Keith a change of clothes. But before Keith moves, he watches Lance’s stretcher get rolled down the hall to an operating room and hopes that they save him. When they are gone from sight, the same nurse brings Keith to a room with a shower and tells him to take his time and that she’ll be there when he gets out. 

Keith looks at his reflection and is terrified by himself. His shirt and pants are stained in blood, that made it look like he was on his stomach in red paint. His arms are covered in blood like war paint on his body. And his face had Lance’s handprint on his cheek, over his own cut, and there were blood spatters like freckles all over. Keith looked dead and he knew that Lance was not that far off.

The shower was the only way that Keith could get rid of all the blood and horrible memories that were flooding his brain. He had to close his eyes because he didn’t want to watch the blood go down the drain, knowing that it wasn’t his. As he stands in the water, Keith kept on thinking about what would have happened if Lance never heard the intruder or dropped the gun or if Lance died on the bed. Keith just wanted to wake up from this nightmare, but he knew that all of this was very real, and it wasn’t going away any time soon.

Keith doesn’t even remember getting out of the shower or changing or leaving the room. One second, he’s imagining Lance’s terrified look before as the knife goes in his back, and the next, he’s brought to a waiting room that’s filled with Lance’s friends and family, and police officers. 

Of the many people there, Lance’s sister Veronica and Keith’s mom are there, along with their friends Allura and Pidge. When Keith is seen, everyone tries to talk to him, but his mother brings him to a chair away from peoples questioning gaze. 

“Keith? I know you’re not alright, but I need to know what happened to you guys.” Keith’s mom tells him in his ear, telling Keith that he doesn’t have to tell anyone else. Keith can’t tell her, he can’t even believe it happened in the first place. 

After a few moments of just looking at his hands and the floor, Keith looks up and around at the people staring at him. Keith wants to look away again, but he decides to look at his mother, who caresses his cheek like Lance did and completely falls apart in front of them. 

When he calms down from crying, Keith tells them everything that happened. His voice is still hoarse from yelling, but he tries his best for everyone to hear him. A few of the police officers leave but a few stays behind to watch over everyone. 

After hours of waiting in the waiting room, more people arrived at the hospital. Lance’s parents and come in with Hunk, followed by Shiro and Adam, then Coran arrives last. Lance’s mother comforts him and tells him that everyone wishes they were here but decided to wait until Lance was awake. 

When doctor finally came into the waiting room and told them that Lance would be alright. Keith just stood there, as people began to hug each other and wipe the tears on their cheeks, he couldn’t believe that Lance was alive. 

Keith fell on his knees and cried into his hands. His mother was immediately at his side asking him if he was alright and he heard the doctor in front of him as well. 

“Are you Mr. Kogane-McClain?” Keith looked up at him and wiped some of the tears from his face to nod. “I just wanted to tell you that without you, your husband would not have made it to the hospital.” Keith just looked at him in shock and heard that everyone around them was silent. 

“I-I saved him?”

“Yes, sir, he is very lucky to have you.” 

Keith stood up and thanked the doctor for saving him and watched him leave through the same doors he came in, after telling them that they could go see Lance. Keith almost ran down the hall to Lance’s room, to hold him and never let him go, but he didn’t because he knew that he will get to do that for the rest of his life.

When they arrive at Lance’s room, they see that he’s asleep and is attached to a few IV bags, blood bag, and a few wires that Keith’s guessing have something to do with his heart. There is also another doctor in the room that tells the group that 

Lance’s wounds should heal in about two weeks, which seems a lifetime to Keith because all he wants to do is go home. Keith ask the doctor if he could stay with him, which they agreed to and bring in a bed for him after everyone left. 

As everyone left, Allura told Keith that she will do everything in her power to make sure the house is cleaned and back to it was before the incident. Hunk and Pidge also stayed back to tell him that they will bring him anything from the house that Keith would need. Lance’s parents just hugged him and thanked him for saving Lance, and that they wouldn’t know they’d have done if it weren’t Keith that Lance fell in love with all those years ago. 

Before Keith went to bed that night, he grabbed Lance’s hand between his and silently cried while telling him that he better come back to him in the morning because it’s not time to go.

That night, Keith kept waking up to the intruder getting away with killing Lance and then going for Keith, and seeing the intruder become Lance before killing Keith, and other similar dreams. He didn’t get that much sleep that night.

The next morning, after Keith managed to fall asleep for a few hours straight, he wakes up to fingers carding though his tangled hair and jumps up to face the culprit only to realize that it was Lance. Lance was awake and smiling at him with white teeth and looking at him with his beautiful blue eyes. 

“Keith.” 

“Lance.” Keith just looked at him dumbly with a laugh and smile of his own, before he brings his hands up to gently caress Lance’s cheeks and then bring their lips together in a kiss that they thought they’d never feel again. 

They were happy, and they knew that the nightmare was over for now, and they knew that they were both alive and safe in each other’s arms. 

As Keith tells Lance everything that happened, since Lance told him that he doesn’t remember anything after the moment Keith started to put pressure on his wounds, they look at each other in silence. When Keith finishes through more tears, Lance puts a hand over Keith’s cheek, which causes Keith to lean into the touch, and tells him that everything is alright. 

When Lance tells Keith that he would rather have died then live a day without him in it, Keith brings himself to sit next to Lance in bed and gently places an arm over his waist, comforting Lance from his inner demons that they both know the other has after light night. 

“Lance, you gave me galaxies and nebulas in a universe of blackholes; color after color filling all the corners of my mind, until I had to close my eyes from all the light.” Keith places his forehead on Lance’s, “I don’t want to live in that blackhole that takes everything I love away, I want to live in a galaxy full of light and color. You gave that to me and I would rather die then have it happen again. You give me a reason to live.”

Lance looks him in the eyes and brings their lips together in a soft kiss, before pulling back and holding each other as gently as they can. 

Over the next few days, their friends and families come to visit them, and tell them that their house is cleaned and stocked with food. The couple just smiles at them and thanks them for everything, but they both know that their house will never be the same again. But they tell the other, that as long as they have one another, it doesn’t matter where they live. 

When they finally get back home, they are hesitant the first day but when a few weeks pass by, their home starts to feel safe again. They even decide to adopt a German Shepard that they named Cosmo, after joking that a dog would be a better alarm system. At night both, but mostly Keith, wake up from nightmares, which causes the other to embrace the other into falling asleep again after calming word that everything is alright. 

A month later, as Lance and Keith are falling asleep facing each other with Lance’s hand resting on Keith’s hip, everything is peaceful, and everything feels right again. Keith suddenly and slowly slides his way completely on top of Lance and grabs his face in his hands, before telling Lance how much he loves him and means to him. Lance just looks at Keith and puts a hand over one of Keith’s, as he listens to Keith. 

“I love you, with every bit of me and I just wanted to tell you thank you. Thank you for everything you have done for me, thank you for loving me, and thank you for saving my life.” Keith moves his thumbs back and forth on Lance’s cheeks, as they smile back to the other. 

“Keith, you save my life everyday by loving me just as much as I love you.” 

After they give each other tender kisses, Keith lays his head down on Lance’s chest and places his arms on either side of Lance’s head to stroke his fingers through his hair with one hand. When Lance knows that Keith is comfortable, Lance securely wraps his arms around Keith and begins to rub circle onto his back. They fall asleep with each other as close as they can be, as close as they want to be for the rest of their lives.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed this! I have had this idea in my head after watching Criminal Minds episodes and I just had to write it down. Let me know what you guys though of it, I would really appreciate it.


End file.
